Renee and Dani are expecting. Ann and Jamie are also expecting. And a Giant Stork suddenly starts talking. Set in the near future, Babel paints the picture of a society where embryos must be pre-certified. When each couple faces the test results, things take a complicated turn. This dark comedy begs the question, “How far will we go to create the ‘perfect’ world?”
Length: 100-120+ Minutes
A full-length show that runs approximately 100 minutes or longer.
Antebellum
ANTEBELLUM focuses on themes of social injustice as it intercuts between two alternate stories throughout the play: one which takes place in Atlanta in 1939, the other in Germany in 1936. The Atlanta plot-line centers on a young Jewish couple living in the South who dress up in Civil War era attire to attend the premiere of Gone with the Wind. In Berlin, a Third Reich officer at a Nazi death camp is in love with his prisoner, a Black, male cabaret performer, yet still allows him to be tortured.
That Summer in Sumner
THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER is the middle drama in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till. While the first play, The Ballad of Emmett Till, is the story of the boy, That Summer in Sumner explores the 1955 trial of his killers. While drawing upon trial transcripts, contemporaneous news accounts, and the abundant photographic and media imaging, the play is not a docudrama, but my imagined interpretation of behind the scenes events from the perspective of three African American journalists covering the trial and from Emmett, himself, his ghost, his cipher, his Kah, coming to grips with what has happened to him.
This is the second play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Another America
A cross-country pilgrimage on bicycles from Venice, CA to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. ANOTHER AMERICA is a free-wheeling portrait of the country itself as well as a journey of self discovery for two brothers and their best friend.
Benevolence
BENEVOLENCE explores the impact of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Chicago youth Emmett Till on two families in the Mississippi Delta, one white (the family of his killers), one black (their neighbors). When the daily routine of a country storekeeper is disrupted by a group of buoyant teens, one of whom whistles at her, from that chance encounter, she is swept into a whirlwind of violence, prosecution, deceit and delusion that pursue her till the end of her days. In a nearby town, an auto mechanic and his wife struggle to hold their family together after his infidelity, but when he witnesses evidence of Till’s murder, the incident tears at the very fabric of their lives. Based on actual events, the third play in Bayeza’s THE TILL TRILOGY grapples with the enduring legacy of American racial violence through this intimate story of two women in quest of love and redemption.
Barbecue
The O’Mallery’s have gathered in their local park to share some barbecue and straight talk with their sister Barbara, whose spiral of drugs and recklessness has forced her siblings to stage an open-air intervention. But the event becomes raucous and unpredictable as familial stereotypes collide with hard realities, and racial politics slam up against the stories we tell—and maybe even believe—about who we were and who we’ve become.
Guilty Pleasures
Married couple Larry and Jinx embark on a luxury cruise and encounter a glamorous celebrity couple. A frivolous agreement leads to sex, comic complications, and Larry and Jinx having to resort to infidelity to save their marriage. Guilty Pleasures is a modern version of a sophisticated throwback Noel Coward-type screwball comedy.
Smoke Gets In Your House
The lives of two couples are thrown into upheaval when a brushfire threatens their upscale Southern California homes. They must confront what’s really important to them — Material items? Careers? Relationships? SMOKE GETS IN YOUR HOUSE treats the natural disaster seriously while still finding enough absurdity to make this play a genuine dark comedy.
On the Farce Day of Christmas
To keep her religious mother from knowing she’s divorced, Wendy pays her ex to pose as her husband and go home for the holidays. Havoc ensues.
Bruise & Thorn
Bruise and Thorn are Nuyorican, queer, and tired af of their jobs at a busted up laundromat in Jamaica, Queens. But not for long: Bruise is saving up to become a chef (like on Chopped!), and Thorn spits bars on street corners, one America’s Got Talent audition away from becoming the Boricua Nikki Minaj. When the laundromat’s basement turns out to be an illegal cockfighting ring, the cousins can’t tell if this is an opportunity to cash out and become their most fabulous selves—or a trap to keep them locked into what everyone expects them to be.